


All Consuming

by Evilquirrel18



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen, kastle - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-03-08 22:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13467447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evilquirrel18/pseuds/Evilquirrel18
Summary: The bridge scene in my own words. Based off the first glimpse we got from it.





	All Consuming

**Author's Note:**

> Ah. One of a few Kastle ficlets. 
> 
>  
> 
> My muse for this was Sleeping At Last. The Atlas album and I alternated between Light, Saturn and Arctic. 
> 
> Originally on tumblr @evilsquirrel18

  
  
“I need to find…” Frank’s guttural voice trailed off, cracked in emotion at the words spilling from his mouth. “I need to find those bastard that took them from me, Karen, and I gotta kill ‘em.” They had been standing on that overhang near the water for what seemed like an eternity. Their breaths puffing out, mixing with the chilly night air. The tensions were high, and the emotions even higher. Frank was no fool, he could see that it wasn’t just agitation on her face. It was worry. He could see it swimming in those damn celestial blue eyes. Eyes that had been haunting him as of late. Too blue. Not the honey hues he was used to in his dreams.    
  
“So where does that end, Frank?” Tears were in her eyes, uninvited and unwanted. But she couldn’t help the choked and strangled way she said her next words. “Because I look at you and my heart breaks because all I can see is just this… endless echoing loneliness.” Karen was horrified at the way a few tears slipped from her eyes and she hoped the darkness of would hide them from him. But nothing was hidden from Frank. He saw it all and his chocolate eyes flickered to her face, to her cheeks. When had this become the norm for her? When had Karen graduated from innocent bystander to participant? When had she become so invested? And not just for justice for his family. For him. She wasn’t invested for a story. She was in this for him. She cared, a lot more than she should. A lot more than she wanted. She dreamt of blood and rage and Kevlar. She dreamt of tender glances and midnight coffee. She breathed the scent of soap and gunpowder. She felt the fear of not knowing, of not hearing from him. It wrenched in her chest and it echoed each word she spoke. The underlying emotion. Fear.    
  
“So what do you want, Karen? What do you want? Should I let it go?” He said the words in a rush, in a rush to get them out. What should he do? Give me direction, he thought with an urgency he wasn't used to. Help me. His face said it all. All the pain and despair. All the anger and hate for them. The hate that his emotions were so mixed up. Cut and dry. Frank Castle had always been cut and dry. Good and evil. And here she was, putting his emotions, his views in a blender and making him wonder if he were wrong. His face twisted in an effort to keep him own emotions in check. Fuel it with rage, that was all he had. Wasn’t it?    
  
“No!” Karen’s blue eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “But I want there to be an after!” It was said in a whoosh of need, of want and came out more as a plea than anything else. She saw the disbelief on his face as he swayed back from her, his dark gaze flickering across the water as he continued in his tyrant. His eyes were wild, he was struggling but she couldn’t stop. She kept pushing him to his limits.    
  
“Now look, I can’t go after these men and keep you safe. I can’t—”   
  
“You don’t have to keep me safe—” she was exasperated, it showed plainly in her tone. Another man trying to keep her safe and—   
  
“What do you mean I don’t have to keep you safe?” Frank exploded. His chest heaved and he was breathing like a winded horse. His eyes went even more wild. “My family is gone because of what I know!” He spoke like the words left a disgusting taste in his mouth. And they did. He wanted to be physically sick from what he had seen. “They’re _**GONE**_!” He bellowed. And then he felt the guilt seep in and she began to shut down. He saw the way her lashes lowered and hid those eyes from him. How she shrunk in, flinched as he spoke.   
  
“I cannot let that happen to you” It was only a whisper spread across gravel and it had Karen glancing up after he spoke. The tenderness she saw in his normally hard face had a tiny gasp fluttering from between her lips.    
  
“Please.” And his voice broke. It broke right along with her heart. Karen felt fresh tears well in her eyes, her arms firmly crossed over her chest. He was watching her and she couldn’t read him. It was only when he leaned in that she realized– his scent was always so all consuming of coffee and soap and his aftershave. Her breath caught in a small gasp when that strong jaw tilted and then pressure was against her skin Lips softer than she would have guessed were tenderly kissing her cheek. She allowed her eyes to flutter shut, she felt him pull back, it was cold where his lips had been.    
  
Frank felt like his heart was about to gallop out of his chest. He looked down as his breath shuddered out of him. And then he couldn’t look at her as his gaze cut to the water. Their breaths mingled, mixed in the salty air, but he could smell her. Citrus and sunshine and when his tongue darted out he could taste her. Finally his gaze darted to her face, gauging her reaction and what he saw there was hooded lids and confusion. He didn’t say another word but his numb legs carried him away from her, had to get away. All he could hear was the steady roaring of his blood in his ears and the hammering of his heart against his ribcage. All he could feel was the devastatingly all consuming dispair.

_ Not on my watch. _


End file.
